Six reasons most property investors struggle and never become rich

Over the years, I have discovered that successful investors do things in a certain way that helps them become rich, while others continue to do things differently and in general they tend to struggle.

I’ve come to the conclusion that when you do what most successful investors do, you get to become one of them, and if you don't – you won’t.

With 2013 panning out to be another challenging year in property, let’s look at six simple reasons most investors will never get rich and how to make sure you do:

1. Most people wait too long to start

Most people can’t wait to succeed; yet they are willing to wait to get started on the road to riches.

They wait for the right time in the cycle, the right property, the right economic environment or the right interest rates: which means they never get going.

The longer you wait to get started with your investing, the longer it will be before you get the money, success and freedom you want. It takes time to grow real wealth. It takes time for the power of compounding to work its magic.

You need to understand that the timing will never be perfect or you will never have all the information you want. You need to develop the confidence to make an investment decision based on knowing enough and realising that you will learn the rest along the way.

2. Fear stops them

Fear keeps many of us from getting what we want, especially in matters of money.

Be honest with yourself and count the number of times fear has prevented you from taking action, and in the process cost you a lost financial opportunity.

In the matter of property investment, fear holds many investors back.

Some fear taking on more debt, others fear failure and some even have a fear of success (will my friends still like me?).

Successful investors have learned to harness their fears and rather than focus on the negatives, they use fear to force them into positive action.

For example, rather than allowing fear of debt to stop them taking on the commitment of buying a property they use the fear of not moving forward with their investments to motivate them.

They use the fear of being stuck in their job for the rest of their lives, without the financial independence that they are craving, to motivate them to take on the commitment of an investment property.

Money and success lives on the other side of fear.

3. Waiting until they know enough

The fear of not knowing enough prevents other investors from getting started.

However, the irony here is that the more you learn, the more you learn you don't know!

Once you start learning some basic investment concepts you suddenly realise there are a whole lot more things about investing or property that you don’t understand.

That's the paradox of knowledge: The more you learn, the more you learn you don't know.

The trap is that many investors think that the way to escape this paradox is to learn even more, so they read more books, go to more seminars, listen to CDs and watch DVDs.

As they learn more they find a whole heap more things they don’t yet know.

The key is to recognise that while you don't know it all, and you never will, you do know enough to get started with your investing and you will learn more along the way as you apply your knowledge in the real world, surviving any mistakes and challenges along the way.